Only eight miles apart, there’s quite a bit of interaction between Washington State University and University of Idaho. Both universities were established only a year apart, so UI has literally shared their entire existence with WSU. It’s only natural that the two universities saddle the Idaho-Washington border would grow to have a friendly rivalry.
Quite a bit of the rivalry spawned from when they began to play sports, more specifically football, against each other. Then in 1938, nearly 50 years after the institutes were established, a sports editor for the Argonaut, Bill McGowan, challenged the WSU students. This resulted in what was deemed “Loser’s Walk.”
Many students know very little about this tradition, most say something along the lines of, “Isn’t that when students of the losing team have to walk the eight miles back to their campus after the game?”
While that’s a good guess, that technically wouldn’t work. The Vandals haven’t played on their own turf since 1966, 50 years ago. That means the Vandals would be the only students to walk back to their home, while the Cougars wouldn’t have to walk a single mile.
Fans from the losing team would have to walk what is now deemed the “Chipman Trail” to the winner’s campus and face a certain challenge, whether it is foot washing or getting coffee.
In the past, the editor-in-chief of The Argonaut and their rival chief from the WSU Daily Evergreen have challenged each other with these traditions.
They’ve also collaborated with ASUI and ASWSU to get larger groups of students involved. This year, no word has been given on whether this tradition will stay or go, though it was officially disbanded back in 1969.
According to a UI traditions booklet, you can still find traditionalists walking the trail, but there hasn’t been a mass exodus of students participating in decades.
Students have attempted to band together for the past few games, such as in 2013 when the staff of The Argonaut got together with ASUI to walk the eight miles to WSU. Just before the students arrived, one of them received a text message from a WSU student saying that there would be nobody at the entrance of the campus to finish off their journey.
In the recent past, UI hasn’t been challenging WSU to the Loser’s Walk, but if you look at UI’s record of winning and losing, it could be assumed that an organization wouldn’t bet on winning.
If a student is looking for a tradition to participate in, this year would be a perfect opportunity to challenge WSU students to this walk of shame, but keep in mind, you may be on the losing end.
The Battle of the Palouse is coming ever closer and WSU should be preparing itself for the mighty Vandals. While the Vandals are not favored to win, UI could surprise us and force the WSU students to face humiliation.
Lizzy Diana
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